Please could you share your cheap meal ideas here meal planners and others? Thanks

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Before I go shopping this morning if pos.

I need 7 suppers for me and dh for next week/weekend

Will be buying pizza bases to make pizzas (have sardines, anchovies and chargrilled veg to put on the top)
Have fishfingers
can do omelette on night
so I need some other ideas as I am planning to shop with a LIST (a novelty for me) as we are saving to buy a house and therefore Cutting Back

TIA!

1. Fry onion, add jar of passatta, throw in loads of oregano, basil, garlic, tom puree, let it simmer for 20 or so minutes.

I just put this on top of spaghetti like you would bolognese - sprinkle parmesan on top and maybe a garlic bread.

2. If you are buying veg anyway, what about a veg stir fry (or bung some chicken in too). That's cheap, quick and easy.

3)Beans on toast?! Don't laugh - it's actually fabbo for a 'night off' from cooking!

buy a chicken
you get at least 3 meals out of a medium one (3 meals for 3/4 people i mean) - one meal of, for example, chicken, broccoli and pasta bake (use 1/3 to 1/2 the cooked chicken and beef it up with the broccoli)
another meal of, for example chicken stir fry which can also be beefed up and you also get a pot of soup

4. Chicken/bacon/tomato/mayo on nice soft baguette with a bit of salad on side

Potatoes are good value. Jacket spuds with different fillings.

Quorn mince/beef mince for spag bols and/or chilis.
Tinned toms for above.
Rice (buy a 5kg if you buy basmati), much more economical.
A couple of chickens to joint (are you OK with that? Some people can only handle anonymous breast meat)Breasts fo a stir fry, joints for a casserole or curry(I do these at the end of the week and chuck in any veg left.)
Red lentils for lentil and veg (root/winter veg is best) soup. Lovely

I'll keep thinking...

mince can be used for a hundred and one things
cook mince with oxo cube, seasoning, garlic, tin tomatoes, tomato puree, wosc sauce, hey presto, cheapy spag bol
also cottage pie, you can get away with using less mince if you add tons of carrots, etc
moussaka, shepherds pie (minced lamb)
homemade burgers - yum!

chuck a chopped onion in a pan with 1 litre of veg stock add any veg you have left over like carrots, brocolli, cauliflower, peppers etc and boil for 45 mins, whizz up with a blender and you've lovely homemade soup - serve with crusty bread.

Chickpeas are good in curries or tomato based sauces.
Buy them dried and soak overnight before cooking. Not as faffy as it sounds and I think the texture is much better and of course it's much cheaper than buying tins.

Chicken thighs (much cheaper and tastier than the breast) with sweet jacket potatoes and 'seasonal veg' (go to a market for these if poss)

Shin beef stew - cook on low for at least five hours, it's delicious.

White fish pie .... buy a bag of frozen white fish (value is no less ethical than branded but don't expect 'named fish' in there - it will probably be coley and scaps of other fish) and microwave it. Use the juices to make a white sauce, add some lemon juice to this sauce. Top with mashed potato, again with the seasonal veg.

Pasta with tomatoes, onions and cheese.

do you have a fish van? we do and its fab - fish a lot cheaper than the shops, fish cakes for 14p!!! and most of them are kind and will give you end-bits for the children at a discount (no-one else wants the end bits)

14p?! YOu can buy food for 14p???

tattie soup

pile of tatties
pile of carrots
onion
3 stock cubes (ham or veg)
1-1.5l of water

chop onion and fry in oil
add chopped carrots and then tatties
dissolve stock cubes in the boiling water then add to the pan and cook for 20 mins
add lots of pepper and a bit salt

mash with a tattie masher

hey presto

(i made this for MrsApron last week and she had 2 bowls!)

Fresh/frozen soya beans are lovely (in the frozen veg section.) Good, cheap source of protein without any fat.

I've used these instead of meat with veg and noodles, very child-friendly, too.

Oh NP I ask for tail end too! LOL It has less bones.

i know gdg! its brilliant! and thank god, the dds love them

bubble can you give more details on the soya benas and how yuou would use them id like to try that please

nailpolish - 3 stockcubes??

oh maybe its just 2 - - i forget - i do it on auto pilot
i cant remember if its 1.5 or 2l either

Oh thanks for all these
I have in my cupboards already

pasta, which I hate but children/dh like
noodles
chickpeas
lentils, puy and red
beans

Buying a chicken is a good idea, I have no prob with cutting it up. Can't buy un named fish, will still be buying organic food but less of it and cheaper stuff, so no more silverside for us, oh no

Will buy mince, good idea and tinned tomatoes, have already decided the sees of change jars of pasta sauce have to go as I can make it I reckon and freeze it.

Potatoes very good idea for jacket potatoes/wedges

I bought hair conditioner for TWENTY NINE p this week and it's fine! Much to my surprise!

soya beans also v good idea

WWW, do you have a Quality Save or similar? I went in over the summer to pick up bits for the school fair and it looks like qutie a good place to get toothpaste, shampoo etc and also cleaning products. If you can be bothered to go to a separate place you'd probably save a bit by buying that sort of stuff in there.

Just a thought.

I'm certainly going to start going there for party presents rather than paying through the nose at toysrus (they do toys in QS, obviously!).

what do yo mean un named fish

That's a bit of a delayed reaction np!!

Np, that was in response to escapefrom's post where she said "White fish pie .... buy a bag of frozen white fish (value is no less ethical than branded but don't expect 'named fish' in there - it will probably be coley and scaps of other fish) and microwave it."